In the aftermath of the United States’ 2-0 win over Bolivia, American players were determined to ask more of themselves and their brothers in the Copa America.
An early goal from Christian Pulisic set the tone and Folarin Balogun added a goal to his bank account just before half-time.
But in between those goals there was some disjointed play that seemed to frustrate some of the team. This was followed by a second half in which the team dominated the attacking opportunities, but failed to find the back of the net.
The USMNT have spent a lot of time training together in recent weeks and captain Christian Pulisic says they are demanding more and more from each other as the days go by.
“Only high standards, always, every day, not just today, but on the training pitch,” Pulisic told DailyMail.com.
Christian Pulisic says the USMNT ‘always demand high standards’ at the Copa America
Gio Reyna praised US opponents and said the South American competition is “not easy.”
‘Expect more from each other, always demand the highest level.
“When you’re such a tight-knit group, it’s easy to just let guys get away with things but just keep pushing each other and expecting more.
“At the end of the day, we’re all brothers, so there are no hard feelings.”
As for whether the captain felt he got that out of the team today?: “I think in many ways, yes. There are always things we can improve. I’m not going to say it was perfect, but yeah.’
Gio Reyna performed solidly in midfield and praised the Bolivians for their high level of play despite their gap in quality and in the FIFA rankings.
“It’s not easy to play against South American competition,” Reyna told reporters. ‘[After] one goal, maybe we got a little complacent, but they also did well to win second balls and put us in our half, which gave us a little more control of our goal.
‘The second goal also helped a lot. It was something we looked at in film that we can hurt them a lot during the transition.
‘Overall a great achievement. I’m just happy with the way we started.”
Folarin Balogun (20) scored his fourth goal for the United States since joining last year
Balogun’s second goal was one that avoided clenched fists in the second half, giving the United States a commanding lead.
It was also his first goal since the friendly against Ghana last October and his fourth goal against the United States.
It is clear that Balogun has become more and more a part of this team and that the goal has been a long time coming.
‘Yes, I think it’s okay. I think this will help me build momentum,” Balogun told DailyMail.com.
‘It’s always fun to take part in a tournament when you score for the first time. I’m just trying to build momentum and add more to my total.”
The next match for the United States is their second group match against Panama in Atlanta on Thursday.